ENGL 331 Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales
FALL 2011
Dr. Wan-Chuan Kao
Office: Klapper 357
Phone: 718-997-4645
Email: [email protected]
Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:40 – 2:55 p.m.
Room: Klapper 333
Office Hours: Tu 3:15 – 4:45 p.m. (KP 357)
& by appointment
In 1700, John Dryden designates Geoffrey Chaucer “the father of English poetry.” This course will
consider the primary work on which Chaucer’s reputation rests: The Canterbury Tales. We will pay
sustained attention to Chaucer’s Middle English at the beginning of the semester to ease the reading
process. Then we will travel alongside the Canterbury pilgrims as they tell their tales under the guise of
a friendly competition. The Canterbury Tales is frequently read as a commentary on the social divisions
in late medieval England such as the traditional estates, religious professionals and laity, and gender
hierarchies. But despite the Tales’ professed inclusiveness of the whole of English society, Chaucer
nonetheless focuses inordinately on those individuals from the emerging middle classes. Our aim is to
approach the Tales from the practices of historicization and theorization; that is, we will both examine
Chaucer’s cultural and historical contexts and consider issues of religion, gender, sexuality, marriage,
conduct, class, chivalry, courtly love, community, geography, history, power, spirituality, secularism,
traditional authority, and individual experience. Of particular importance are questions of voicing and
writing, authorship and readership. Lastly, we will think through Chaucer’s famous Retraction at the
“end” of the Canterbury Tales, as well as Donald R. Howard’s trenchant observation that the Tale is
“unfinished but complete.” What does it mean for the father of literary “Englishness” to end his life’s
work on the poetic principle of unfulfilled closure and on the image of a society on the move?
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Course Goals:
(1) Read texts closely and critically; identify intellectual concerns; conduct scholarly research; and
articulate focused arguments that are both historically informed and theoretically engaged.
(2) Obtain fluency in the elements of academic writing, including thesis, evidence, analysis, critical
reading, summary, paraphrase, MLA conventions for citation, and revision.
This course can be used to satisfy the College Option Literature Requirement.
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Texts:
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Papers:
(1) Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. Ed. Jill Mann (Penguin Classics, 2005).
ISBN: 9780140422344.
(2) Helen Cooper, Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (Oxford UP, 1996).
ISBN: 9780395978238.
(3) Some of the readings will be available at the password-protected course blog. It is your
responsibility to access and print the readings.
(4) It is highly recommended that you have access to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research
Papers 7th ed. 2009.
With the exception of the 1-page response papers, all papers must follow MLA documentation style.
Late papers will result in grade reductions. Papers more than a week late will not be accepted. You
cannot email your papers to me. The assignments are:
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(1) Five 1-page typed response papers: these short papers are required but not graded. In them, you
can freely explore your responses to assigned texts. You may hand in your response papers
anytime throughout the semester, but no more than two during the final four weeks of class.
(2) First 5-page paper: a close reading of a passage.
(3) Second 5-page paper: an examination of a particular cultural-historical practice or theoretical
issue at work in a text.
(4) A final 12-page research paper on a topic of your choice. The final paper may build on the first
two papers, but it must demonstrate further research and critical thinking. You will submit a
working prospectus and an annotated bibliography of primary and secondary sources a month
before the deadline.
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Required Readings:
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Translation Exercises and Quizzes:
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In-Class Discussion and Presentations:
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Peer Critiques:
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Plagiarism:
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Participation and Attendance:
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Classroom Etiquette:
You are expected to keep up with the weekly reading assignments. For each tale, you should also
read the corresponding chapter in Helen Cooper’s guide to the Canterbury Tales.
Throughout the semester, you will be asked to translate select Middle English passages into
idiomatic Modern English either as take-home assignments or in-class exercises. There will also be
4-5 graded quizzes on the readings. If many students do not come to class prepared, weekly quizzes
may be implemented. You cannot make up a quiz if you are late or absent.
You are responsible for 3-4 thoughtful discussion questions based on the primary reading for one
class session. You may consult the recommended secondary reading(s) for ideas. You will also give
a 5-minute reflection (i.e., a response paper) on the particular tale before you pose the questions. On
the last day of class, you will give a 5-minute presentation on your final research paper.
Two workshop sessions will be held during class, in which students will be divided into small
groups. You will give constructive feedback on the writings of other students. Your participation is
crucial to your grade.
Plagiarism will result in an automatic “F” for a paper and the course. Further actions will be pursued
by the English Department and the College. Please refer to the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity.
This course requires your diligent attendance, punctuality, and active participation. You should be
prepared for discussions, have with you any necessary materials (readings, drafts, notebooks, etc.),
and stay for the entirety of the class meeting. You will be called on during class to respond to
questions. Being absent, arriving late, and leaving early do not constitute full participation. If you
missed any in-class assignments, collaborative activities, and quizzes, you cannot make them up.
Handouts for in-class activities will not be distributed ahead of time. If an absence is unavoidable, it
is your responsibility to get any materials and find out what you missed from your classmates.
Please try to notify me prior to the absence if possible.
Do not use your phones or any electronic devices. And please be respectful of others during
discussions.
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Course Blog:
The course blog will be used for posting some of the required and optional readings, as well as
supplementary resources. Please check the blog often for updates and announcements.
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Special Needs:
If you have special needs for educational activities, please contact the Office of Special Services for
Students with Disabilities (Kiely 171).
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Grades:
Schedule
Week 1:
20% = Active class participation and quizzes
10% = Two in-class presentations
15% = Five 1-page response papers
15% = First short paper (including first draft)
15% = Second short paper (including first draft)
25% = Final Paper (including an annotated bibliography)
Chaucerian Sociality
8/30 Tu
Introduction to Chaucer’s Language
The Complaint of Chaucer to His Purse
Chaucer’s Wordes unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn
9/01 Th
The General Prologue
Cooper, 27-60.
Recommended: Paul Strohm, Social Chaucer, chp. 1 (“Chaucer and the Structure of Social Relations”)
Week 2:
Fragment I
9/06 Tu
The Knight’s Tale (I. 859-1354)
Cooper, 61-91.
Recommended: Susan Crane, Gender and Romance in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,
chp. 5 (“Adventure”)
9/08 Th
The Knight’s Tale (I. 1355-1880)
Cooper, 61-91.
Recommended: Elizabeth B. Edwards, “Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale and the Work of Mourning”
Recommended: Catherine A. Rock, “Forsworn and Fordone: Arcite as Oath-Breaker in the Knight's
Tale”
Week 3:
Fragment I
9/13 Tu
The Knight’s Tale (I. 1881-3108)
Cooper, 61-91.
Recommended: Sylvia Tomasch, “Mappae Mundi and The Knight’s Tale: The Geography of Power,
the Technology of Control”
9/15 Th
*Peer Critique Workshop (Bring 6 copies of your rough draft)
Week 4:
Fragment I
9/20 Tu
The Miller’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 92-107.
Recommended: Dawn Simmons Walts, “Tricks of Time in the Miller's Tale”
9/22 Th
The Reeve’s Prologue and Tale
The Cook’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 108-122.
Recommended: Holly A. Crocker, “Affective Politics in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale: ‘Cherl’
Masculinity after 1381”
Recommended: Jim Casey, “Unfinished Business: The Termination of the Cook's Tale”
Due: 5-page Paper (Close Reading)
Week 5:
Fragment II
9/27 Tu
The Man of Law’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 123-138.
Recommended: Kathy Lavezzo, “Beyond Rome: Mapping Gender and Justice in The Man
of Law's Tale”
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9/29 Th
(No Class)
Week 6:
Fragment II
10/04 Tu
(No Class; Friday Schedule)
10/06 Th
The Man of Law’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 123-138.
Recommended: Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, “On Saracen Enjoyment”
Recommended: Steven F. Kruger, “Becoming Christian, Becoming Male?”
Week 7:
Fragment III
10/11 Tu
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue
Cooper, 139-155.
Recommended: Carolyn Dinshaw, “‘Glose/Bele Chose’: The Wife of Bath and Her
Glossators”
10/13 Th
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
Cooper, 156-166.
Recommended: Elaine Tuttle Hansen, “‘Of His Love Dangerous to Me’: Liberation,
Subversion, and Domestic Violence in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale”
Recommended: Shawn Normandin, “The Wife of Bath's Urinary Imagination”
Week 8:
Fragment IV
10/18 Tu
*Peer Critique Workshop (Bring 6 copies of your rough draft)
10/20 Th
The Clerk’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 185-201.
Recommended: Sarah Stanbury, “Regimes of the Visual in Premodern England: Gaze,
Body, and Chaucer's Clerk's Tale”
Week 9:
Fragment V
10/25 Tu
The Squire’s Introduction and Tale
Cooper, 217-229.
Recommended: Britton J. Harwood, “Chaucer and the Gift (If There Is Any)”
Recommended: Kathryn Lynch, “East Meets West in Chaucer’s Squire’s and Franklin’s
Tales”
Due: 5-page Paper (Historical/Theoretical)
10/27 Th
The Franklin’s Prologue Tale
Cooper, 230-246.
Recommended: Emma Lipton, Affections of the Mind: The Politics of Sacramental
Marriage in Late Medieval English Literature, chp. 1 (“Married Friendship: An
Ideology for the Franklin”)
Week 10:
Fragment VI
11/01 Tu
The Physician’s Tale
Cooper, 248-259.
Recommended: Daniel T. Kline, “Jephthah's Daughter and Chaucer's Virginia: The Critique of
Sacrifice in The Physician's Tale”
11/03 Th
The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 260-276.
Recommended: Carolyn Dinshaw, “Chaucer's Queer Touches/A Queer Touches Chaucer”
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Week 11:
Fragment VI & Fragment VII
11/08 Tu
The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 260-276.
Recommended: Glenn Burger, “Kissing the Pardoner”
Recommended: Shayne Aaron Legassie, “Chaucer's Pardoner and Host—On the Road, in the
Alehouse”
Due: Research Prospectus and Annotated Bibliography
11/10 Th
The Prioress’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 287-298.
Recommended: Sylvia Tomasch, “Postcolonial Chaucer and the Virtual Jew”
Week 12:
Fragment VII
11/15 Tu
The Tale of Melibee
Cooper, 310-322.
Recommended: Carolyn P. Collette, “Heeding the Counsel of Prudence: A Context for the
Melibee”
11/17 Th
The Nun’s Priest’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 338-356.
Recommended: Peter W. Travis, “Chaucer's Heliotropes and the Poetics of Metaphor”
Week 13:
Fragment VIII
11/22 Tu
The Second Nun’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 358-367.
Recommended: Gail Berkeley Sherman, “Saints, Nuns, and Speech in the Canterbury
Tales”
11/24 Th
(Thanksgiving)
Week 14:
Fragment VIII & Fragment IX
11/29 Tu
The Canon’s Yeoman’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 368-382.
Recommended: Peggy A. Knapp, “The Work of Alchemy”
12/01 Th
The Manciple’s Prologue and Tale
Cooper, 383-394.
Recommended: Jamie C. Fumo, “Thinking upon the Crow: The Manciple's Tale and
Ovidian Mythography”
Week 15:
Fragment X and the Retraction
12/06 Tu
The Parson’s Prologue Tale
Cooper, 395-409.
Recommended: Nicole D. Smith, “The Parson's Predilection for Pleasure”
12/08 Th
Chaucer’s Retraction
Cooper, 410-412.
Recommended: Peter W. Travis, “Deconstructing Chaucer's Retraction”
Week 16:
12/13 Tu
Chaucerian (In)Completeness
*In-class Presentations of Final Papers
Due: Final Paper
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Recommended Secondary Readings
Burger, Glenn. “Kissing the Pardoner.” PMLA 107.5 (1992): 1143-56.
Casey, Jim. “Unfinished Business: The Termination of the Cook's Tale.” Chaucer Review 41.2 (2006): 185-96.
Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. “On Saracen Enjoyment.” Medieval Identity Machines. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota
P, 2003. 188-221.
Collette, Carolyn P. “Heeding the Counsel of Prudence: A Context for the Melibee.” Chaucer Review 29.4
(1995): 416-33.
Crane, Susan. Gender and Romance in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1994.
Crocker, Holly A. “Affective Politics in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale: ‘Cherl’ Masculinity after 1381.” Studies in
the Age of Chaucer 29 (2007): 225-58.
Dinshaw, Carolyn. “Chaucer's Queer Touches/A Queer Touches Chaucer.” Exemplaria 7.1 (1995): 75-92.
---. “‘Glose/Bele Chose’: The Wife of Bath and Her Glossators.” Critical Essays on Geoffrey Chaucer.
Ed. Thomas C. Stillinger. New York: Hall, 1998. 112-32.
Edwards, Elizabeth B. “Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale and the Work of Mourning.” Exemplaria 20.4 (2008): 361-384.
Fumo, Jamie C. “Thinking upon the Crow: The Manciple's Tale and Ovidian Mythography.” Chaucer
Review 38.4 (2004): 355-75.
Hansen, Elaine Tuttle. “‘Of His Love Dangerous to Me’: Liberation, Subversion, and Domestic Violence in
the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale.” Geoffrey Chaucer: The Wife of Bath—Complete, Authoritative
Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical
Perspectives. Ed. Peter G. Beidler. Boston: St. Martin's, 1996. 273-89.
Harwood, Britton J. “Chaucer and the Gift (If There Is Any).” Studies in Philology 103.1 (Winter 2006): 26-46.
Kline, Daniel T. “Jephthah's Daughter and Chaucer's Virginia: The Critique of Sacrifice in The Physician's Tale.” Journal
of English and Germanic Philology 107.1 (2008): 77-103.
Knapp, Peggy A. “The Work of Alchemy.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 30.3 (2000):
575-99.
Kruger, Steven F. “Becoming Christian, Becoming Male?” Becoming Male in the Middle Ages. Ed. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen
and Bonnie Wheeler. New York: Garland, 2000. 21-41.
Lavezzo, Kathy. “Beyond Rome: Mapping Gender and Justice in The Man of Law's Tale.” Studies in the Age
of Chaucer 24 (2002): 149-80.
Legassie, Shayne Aaron. “Chaucer's Pardoner and Host—On the Road, in the Alehouse.” Studies in the Age of Chaucer
29 (2007): 183-223.
Lipton, Emma. Affections of the Mind: The Politics of Sacramental Marriage in Late Medieval English
Literature. Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame P, 2007.
Lynch, Kathryn. “East Meets West in Chaucer’s Squire’s and Franklin’s Tales.” Speculum 70.3 (1995):
530-51.
Rock, Catherine A. “Forsworn and Fordone: Arcite as Oath-Breaker in the Knight's Tale.” Chaucer Review 40.4 (2006):
416-32
Sherman, Gail Berkeley. “Saints, Nuns, and Speech in the Canterbury Tales.” Images of Sainthood in
Medieval Europe. Ed. Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Timea Szell, and Brigitte Cazelles. Ithaca: Cornell
UP, 1991. 136-60.
Smith, Nicole D. “The Parson's Predilection for Pleasure.” Studies in the Age of Chaucer 28 (2006): 117-40.
Stanbury, Sarah. “Regimes of the Visual in Premodern England: Gaze, Body, and Chaucer's Clerk's Tale.”
New Literary History 28.2 (1997): 261-89.
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Strohm, Paul. Social Chaucer. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1994.
Tomasch, Sylvia. “Mappae Mundi and The Knight’s Tale: The Geography of Power, the Technology of
Control.” Chaucer’s Cultural Geography. Ed. Kathryn Lynch. New York: Routledge, 2002. 193-224.
---. “Postcolonial Chaucer and the Virtual Jew.” The Postcolonial Middle Ages. Ed. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. New York:
Palgrave, 2000. 243-60.
Travis, Peter W. “Chaucer's Heliotropes and the Poetics of Metaphor.” Speculum 72.2 (1997): 399-427.
---. “Deconstructing Chaucer's Retraction.” Exemplaria 3.1 (1991): 135-58.
Walts, Dawn Simmons. “Tricks of Time in the Miller's Tale.” Chaucer Review 43.4 (2009): 400-413.
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